#formal elements

Texture:  I find that the picture has a strong sense of texture.  From the coarse merging of rocks in the beginning of the photo to the thousands of small prickly branches the photo just oozes with personality.  Every time I look at this photo, I truly get the sense of decay and neglect this environment gives off.

Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Illinois is the location of hills, lakes, paths, and forests. This gave me a lot of opportunities to take different photos and get experience taking pictures of different landscapes. At around 4pm you can see a pier that looks out into the water and the hilly forest beyond, as the sun started to get lower in the sky, the shadows as they are getting longer. Since there were many clouds in the sky and the sun was further down in the sky it made for great lighting, as it was not too harsh or direct. The weather during this photo was very warm, and even though most of the nature is dead from the winter you are able to see a lot of it coming back to life and the warmth that is casted over. The focal point is the pier itself and all of the lines within the pier and helping to lead the viewers eyes back into the pier. When composing I wanted to focus on all of the lines with in the pier, which is why I stood where I did to capture the long wood beams pointing in every direction .

The winding horizontal path emerges from the background into the right foreground and contrasts with the vertical trees and people. The dark, well worn path  stands out next to the tan colors of the dried grass and leaves that dominate the mid and foregrounds.  With all the bare trees around them, you can sense the texture of the leaves scattered on the ground and the crunching sound they would make if you were to walk on them.  The foreground space is balanced between the women on the right and the large tree looming over them on the left. 

The rhythm in this photo looks almost as if it’s a never ending pattern the way those stairs create a never ending allusion all the way to the top middle of the photo. I also love that the wood in here has a greenish tone to it giving it age and character. It matches with the rest of the brown and green that surrounds the stairs. The viewer is drawn to this imaginary line the stairs creates that grabs the viewers eyes and brings them from the bottom to the top is great and really makes the viewer get sucked into whats going on here.

The space is further defined by the tight quarters, as it appears the viewer is all but standing in the water and the eye is led along a narrow waterway through the image, ducking under an arching tree in the middle ground, to the background. There, you come upon a small, darkened shed (or is is a small home?) lurking behind the winter-bare tree, and the viewer is transported from feeling safe and alone to the realization that they may not be the only witness to this scene of rebirth, discovery, the dawn of a new day.

The unique shape of the barren tree draws you in and its trunk leads you to see the reflections in the still water that leads to rippling water slowly taking over the water itself.  The texture of the water in this photo goes from smooth still water to a rough choppy water that seems to be slowly overtaking the smooth water.  The dry grass looks hay like and gives you a rough sense.  There is a break between two trees allowing you to see the height of the grass. The trees almost look as if they are reaching for each other over the space of the grass between them. The space in the water is showing the distortion from the rippling movement across the water as it seems to be slowly taking over the smooth water.

Immediately in the foreground you are met with a tiny barren tree. The baby tree is isolated by itself with no other wooded objects directly around it. There are long straws of grass directly behind the tree surrounding it that look to be flowing in the wind. The ground around the tree looks dead and dry from the winter. The dark line of the ground moves your attention away from the foreground and to the right where there are a couple trees which are equally as barren. In the mid-ground there is a dark and dense line of straw grass that separates the front of the prairie from the back of it. The background field has a much more vibrant and alive orange compared to the front. The horizon is a little above the middle and is defined by a dark line of trees. The ghastly sky is very moody and gives off an uneasy vibe. The clouds are very defined in front of the mildly blue sky. It almost feels like the weather that would be present before a tornado occurs.